Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/528

504 changes, and you get to older, more original, and often spatially larger predecessors and complexes. The starting point should always be the present cultural entity or one determinable by authorities, but you cannot tell whether fusion or interaction has taken place within this particular entity without studying its neighbouring or allied entities. A quarter of the work is taken up with an exposition of the principles involved in the discrimination of culture areas and culture strata, each stratum forming what he terms a culture complex. The application of these principles can be seen worked out in detail in Graebner's suggestive memoir, Die Melanesische Bogenkultur und ihre Verwandten (Anthropos, iv., 1909); many of his conclusions have been criticised, as is to be expected in a more or less pioneer research, but the aim he has in view will not be so much neglected in the future as it has been in the past. Folklorists will find many valuable suggestions of method in this book, and it can be strongly recommended to their notice.

had a happy thought when he decided to map out the field of Christmas rites and ceremonies with the aid of materials collected from all the odd corners of European literature. Those members of the Folk-Lore Society who have of late been directing their attention to the compilation of calendar customs will be able to appreciate the care and skill with which he has performed his task. A wider public likewise will find pleasure in the book. Its outer form is comely. The coloured plates and other illustrations are appropriate and well reproduced. Most important of all, the style of writing is not only lucid, but has charm and distinction; whilst good taste, such as is especially needed where old-world superstitions have to be disentangled from associated practices of live religion, is never for a moment absent. Here, however, it will be more to the purpose to note that, while due regard is had